Artwork of the Week – 18th November 2013

Steven Dews – Round the Gybe Mark

Described by Sotheby’s of London as "the best, there’s nobody else to touch him", Steven Dews is a man at the peak of his profession.

Born in Yorkshire in 1949, Steven Dews’s meteoric rise to success from distinctly unpromising beginnings should be an inspiration to all young artists; he failed his Art “A” Level and then walked out of a Fine Arts Degree course after only a few weeks because of his disillusionment with the teaching methods, yet his work has now placed him at the pinnacle of the marine art world.

Steven Dews’s love affair with art and the sea began at the age of 5, when he had a picture of a ship displayed on the wall at St John’s Infant School. He inherited his passion for ships and the sea from his grandfather, who was an Assistant Harbour Master in Hull.

Steven Dews built up an astonishing portfolio for his first exhibition in 1976 and, on the exhibition’s first night, virtually his entire collection was sold. The following year he held an exhibition in San Francisco which also sold out to great critical acclaim and, since then, Steven Dews has continued exhibiting regularly at leading galleries in London and throughout the world. He is now commissioned for several years in advance.

Confirmation of his pre-eminence came in the Sotheby’s sale of Maritime Art in London in 1999, where his original, entitled Off Cowes, sold for the phenomenal price of £89,500 ($165,000). This result followed on quickly from the sale at auction in 1998 of the Steven Dews painting An Opportune Breeze from the South East for £52,800.

Steven Dews’s spectacular canvas, The Battle of Trafalgar, reached a new world record price for the artist when it was auctioned in Bond Street, London, in the summer of 2005. The eventual buyer paid over £95,000 for this painting, which was the highlight of a day-long sale to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Nelson’s great victory at Trafalgar. The original painting is one of the largest the artist has ever created, with dimensions of 40” x 66”; the painting took seven years from commission to final completion.

In December 2006, his record price was broken again when the painting Westward Reaching Through Cowes Roads sold at Sotheby’s in London for £120,000, double its pre-sale estimate.

Almost fifty Steven Dews limited editions have now been published, most of which have long been ‘sold out’, and his work is avidly collected around the world.

Steven Dews currently lives in Australia and intends to sail around the world in his new boat, which is currently being built. Above all, Steven Dews lives and loves the subject he paints.

This Limited Edition Gouttelette Canvas has been printed with lightfast inks onto fine archival-quality cotton canvas, coated with acid-free priming for permanent artwork reproduction. Round the Gybe Mark is also available on paper, both with an edition of just 50 copies worldwide.

The 2004 Antigua Classic Regatta brought together the ‘J’ Class Ranger of John Williams and his arch rival, Ronald de Waal's ‘J’ Class yacht, Velsheda. After losing the first race through a poor start, Williams was hoping for a dramatic improvement but, in spite of all the technology, power and muscle of Ranger, they miscalculated the start and allowed Velsheda to escape and take the lead to win. On the third day of racing, the breeze had strengthened to 25 knots and, with a tight start line, a dramatic start was guaranteed. Velsheda was forced to sail through a dangerously small gap of 4 feet between the committee boat and another much smaller yacht, Vittfarne, which was sailing in a different class. Ranger stayed well clear to take and maintain the lead until the gybe mark which, taken wide, left enough room for Velsheda to squeeze through and lead to the finish. However, having not established an overlap before taking the inside course at the gybe mark, Velsheda had broken the race rules and took a penalty. Also, she had inadvertently touched the gybe mark and would therefore be penalized, which would allow Ranger to win on handicap. The overall results were 2 – 1 to Velsheda, who was therefore victorious on handicap.